News Release

Helena, Mont.—A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that 31 percent of people believe that America's two-party system is seriously broken and the country is in need of a third party. Despite these numbers, the facts show that only 2 percent of the third-party candidates won their races over the last nine years.

About 100 political parties fielded more than 6,000 candidates to run for state offices from 2000 through 2009, representing 8 percent of the total candidates. A new report from the National Institute on Money in State Politics examined 6,181 third-party candidates who ran for state offices from 2000-2009. Those who identified themselves as members of the Independent and Progressive Parties were most successful at the polls, while Libertarian and Green Party candidates were the least successful. Third-party candidates fared the best in Vermont, where 14 percent of the 236 third-party candidates who sought office were successful. They fared worst in California, where not one of the 392 third-party candidates won.

Third-party candidates also didn't accrue the traditional advantages that benefit Republican and Democratic candidates. Only 23 percent of the third-party candidates who were the top fundraisers in their race were successful—far below the 82 percent win-rate for top fundraisers from the two major parties. The benefits of incumbency were also muted for third-party candidates: only 54 percent of incumbent third-party candidates were re-elected, compared to the 92 percent success rate of major party candidates.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan National Institute on Money in State Politics collects and analyzes campaign contribution information on state-level candidates, political party committees, and ballot committees. Its free, searchable database of contributions, as well as the full text of the report is available online at FollowTheMoney.org.